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National School Choice Week Aims to Spread Awareness

This Sunday marks the kickoff of the fourth annual National School Choice Week, which promotes school choice options through a variety of colorful events.

From Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, more than 5,500 school choice events will be taking place across the country to bring awareness to the variety of school choice options available to families, said Andrew Campanella, the organization's president.

"The goal is not to advocate any political legislation," he said in a conference call with reporters this week, but instead to "shine a positive spotlight on school choice."

For the second year in a row, the week will feature a whistle stop train tour that stops in 14 cities across the country, from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco, where school choice rallies and events have been scheduled.

The week kicks off with a rally in Houston featuring U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as well as charter school network KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg and Houston school district superintendent Terry Grier, all of whom are scheduled to speak.

In an interview with Education Week, Campanella said the week is about getting away from rhetoric and instead "bringing people together who otherwise would not work together and hoping that people can come together on the basics even if they don't agree on the specifics."

And of course, the week would not be complete without an official dance. Like last year, the promoters have an instructional video for the 'easy' dance, using the event's signature yellow scarf as a prop.

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